HHD Faculty Post-Tenure Review Guidelines

Purpose

Each tenured faculty member in the College of Health and Human Development will receive an extended evaluation, referred to as the post-tenure review, every five years, with the first year in the five-year cycle being the year in which the faculty member was granted tenure and/or promoted. The post-tenure review provides a comprehensive evaluation of their contributions and progress over the past five years and sets overarching direction for the next five years. The goals and action plans discussed in the post-tenure review should be revisited in subsequent annual evaluations, ensuring that progress is monitored, and faculty members receive appropriate support in achieving their professional objectives.

The post-tenure review also informs the faculty member’s annual review for that academic year. Consequently, faculty members must ensure that their post-tenure review dossier is updated to include their current activities and achievements. Information specifically for the current review year will be used to inform the Annual Salary Increase (ASI) rating process. See the section at the end of this guideline for further discussion of the relationship between the post-tenure and annual review.

Process

1. The five-year interval will begin with the year of the most recent promotion decision regardless of outcome (exceptions to this schedule for individual faculty members require approval by the Dean). 

2. Administrators (e.g., department heads, school directors, associate deans) will receive an AD14 review every five years, in lieu of a post-tenure review. When these individuals transition from an administrative role back to a faculty role, the five-year interval begins for their next post-tenure review. 

3. If the post-tenure review occurs during the same academic year in which the tenured faculty member is under consideration for promotion to full professor, the promotion review will serve as the post-tenure review for that five-year period. 

4. If the post-tenure review occurs during the same academic year in which a faculty member is on sabbatical leave, the review will occur the following year and include the sabbatical leave report. 

5. If the faculty member is retiring, entering phased retirement, or leaving the university at the end of the same academic year as the post-tenure review, a post-tenure review is not needed.

Procedure

1. The academic unit head will be responsible for supervising the post-tenure review process.

2. The academic unit head will notify relevant faculty members at the end of the fourth academic year in the cycle, that the subsequent year will be a post-tenure review year and that the review itself will take place the following spring semester.  Because the timeline for faculty members’ being due for one of these reviews can change depending on factors such as sabbaticals or faculty leave, the Office for Faculty Affairs and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (OFADEI) will provide department heads with schedules for extended reviews of their tenured faculty members. 

3. Joint Appointments - If 25% or more of the faculty member’s appointment is in another academic unit or a research center, in January of the review year, the academic unit head of the primary appointment will send the narrative statement and the curriculum vitae to the head or director of the other unit(s), requesting a letter summarizing the faculty member’s performance in that unit. The letter should be returned to the primary unit head by March 1. 

4. The academic unit head will conduct the review, which will include a face-to-face meeting. 

5. The focus of the meeting will be on previous accomplishments, goals for the future, and specific means by which the faculty member will address those goals. 

6. Following the meeting, the academic unit head will provide a written (1 to 3 pages) summary of the review to the faculty member and to the ADFADEI of the college by May 5. 

7. If the post-tenure review reveals areas in need of improvement, the academic unit head will work with the faculty member to develop a written plan that both sign off on.

8. In subsequent annual reviews, the academic unit head should return to the plan and ask the faculty member to describe that year’s progress in meeting the goals in the plan.

Documentation

1. By the end of the fall semester of the year of the review, the faculty member will compile a dossier containing the following: 

   1. Narrative statement, not to exceed three pages, addressing: 

      1. professional interests in the areas of teaching, research, and service; 

      2. accomplishments in these areas during the past five years; 

      3. goals for the next five years; and 

      4. specific actions to be taken to achieve those goals. 

   2. Up-to-date curriculum vitae (CV). If created outside of AI, will still need to update your AI for the purposes of the annual review.  If 

   3. Health and Human Development Annual Reports (i.e., Activity Insight and/or FAAR reports), for each year encompassed by the review, including the current year. The Annual Report contains detailed information about teaching, service, and other domains not included in a CV. 

   4. Performance Reviews for each year encompassed by the review. 

   5. Additional Documentation (if applicable): 

      1. Sabbatical Report, if the faculty member was on sabbatical during the five-year period. 

      2. Previous post-tenure review narrative statement and the written review(s). 

      3. A letter from the secondary unit head/director, summarizing the faculty member’s performance in that unit over the five-year period.

Faculty Concerns About Post-Tenure Reviews

1. If substantial concerns about a post-tenure review arise, attempts should be made to resolve the issues at the unit level before involving any other parties.   

2. If the faculty member disagrees with the substance or tenor of the review(s), they may submit a written (one to three page) response to the department head, which, like the review itself, will become part of the personnel file.  This response needs to be submitted by May 15th. 

3. If a faculty member feels their concerns are not being addressed at the unit level and want to consider further action, the next point of contact in the college would be the College’s Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (OFADEI) or the College Ombudsperson.

Relationship of the Post-Tenure Review to the Annual Review

1. Faculty members who are undergoing, or who are scheduled to receive a post-tenure review, are required to update Activity Insight fields for scholarship (papers, grants, etc.) and teaching through the end of the calendar year.

2. However, these faculty members are NOT required to complete the Activity Insight Narrative Statement for Annual Review on Teaching: Diversity, Equity, Inclusivity, and Belonging, or Goal Assessment and Planning AI sections, but may do so at their discretion.

3. In addition, these faculty members are NOT required to have an annual review meeting separate from the meeting required with the academic unit head at the conclusion of the post-tenure review process (the timetable for the five-year review dictates that these meetings should occur prior to the deadline for the conduct of the annual review meeting); however, a separate meeting can be scheduled at the discretion of the academic unit head.  In the event a separate annual review meeting is NOT scheduled, there are then expectations that : (1) the post-tenure review meeting will also include some separate discussion of performance in the previous calendar year and plans for the upcoming year as required in an annual review meeting; and (2) that academic unit heads and faculty members still complete an annual review report to inform the Annual Salary Increase process.

Timeline Summary

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